Quebec Election Day 34: Indigenous leaders feel priorities for their communities are not addressed

Indigenous leaders in Quebec are lamenting the fact that priorities for their communities have been largely ignored during the provincial election campaign.

Atikamekw Grand Chief Constant Awashish says he’s not surprised First Nations issues have been neglected, because candidates don’t need the votes of Indigenous Peoples to get elected.

Awashish says he would like to see more awareness and understanding of Indigenous communities by Quebec’s political class.

Chief Sipi Flamand of Manawan, an Atikamekw community about 250 kilometres north of Montreal, says the lack of discussion about First Nations is not remarkable.

His community is asking for a series of measures, called Joyce’s Principle, to be adopted into Quebec law.

The principle is named after Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven who died in hospital in Joliette, Que., in 2020, after filming staff using derogatory slurs against her.

The Coalition Avenir Québec government has refused to adopt the principle because it refers to systemic racism in Quebec’s institutions, a phenomenon the incumbent government maintains doesn’t exist in Quebec.

Campaigning continues

Meanwhile, just a few days from Election Day on Octobers 3, the five main party leaders are out in full force on the campaign trail.

Liberal party leader Dominique Anglade will be in Montreal, doing interviews and meeting with Mayor Valérie Plante before heading to the South Shore.

“What we’ve seen over the last four years is disagreement, confrontation between Quebec and the municipalities. And this we have to put a stop to this. We have to put a stop to this because this is not beneficial to anybody and it has a negative impact on the population. So whether it is on security, whether it is on immigration, whether it is on any issue, the fear that we facing housing, we need to have a government that collaborates.”

(CREDIT: Hayder Mahdy/CityNews)

(CREDIT: Martin Daigle/CityNews)

Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is also starting the day in Montreal, holding a press conference with the candidate running up against Anglade in the Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne riding, which polls indicate will be a tight race – but he’s looking at the CAQ and to be the official opposition.

“What I know is that in Montreal, it’s clear that the real alternative to the Coalition Avenir Québec is Québec solidaire.”

Nadeau-Dubois also addressed the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and if he believes it should be a holiday in the province.

“I think that this should be a holiday because it could give us the time to reflect about the injustices of the past, but also to prepare ourselves for the future and think about what we can invest as a society in our relationship with First Nations,” said Nadeau-Dubois.

“We need those kind of things to get our thoughts together and to listen, to listen to First Nations. People are telling us that they want more that they need more recognition. In respect of their rights here in Quebec.”

CAQ leader François Legault is visiting the ridings of Abitibi-Ouest and Ungava.

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, will be busy on the road, first starting the day in the Gaspé region, before heading to the Côte-Nord area, then the Malbaie and finishing off in Quebec City.

Conservative party leader Éric Duhaime will also be in the Quebec City area.

With files from The Canadian Press published Sept. 30, 2022.